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Maldivian president ends re-election bid

Maldivian former President and Presidential candidate Mohamed Nasheed smiles as he casts his vote at a local polling station in Male on September 7, 2013

AFP: Roberto Schmidt

An official says Maldivian President Mohamed Waheed has withdrawn his candidature for fresh elections which were ordered by the Supreme Court after a previous round of voting was annulled.

President Waheed quit the re-election bid after getting just over five percent of the popular vote at the September 7 elections which were controversially cancelled by the country's highest court earlier this week.

"President Waheed has decided not to contest in the re-run of the Presidential elections scheduled for October 19," his spokesman Masood Imad said.

President Waheed was humiliated during the first round, which was won by his predecessor Mohamed Nasheed who secured 45.45 percent of the vote in an election international observers said was free and fair.

President Waheed's withdrawal will leave front runner Mr Nasheed taking on the second and third placed candidates who had garnered about 25 percent each with a narrow one percentage point margin separating them.

The third placed candidate, business tycoon Qasim Ibrahim, demanded that the first round be annulled by the Supreme Court, which ordered fresh elections under new voter lists for the just over 200,000 electorate in a majority decision made Monday.